Bed foundations are typically sold fully assembled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,706 to Walker, entitled "Bed Foundation," issued Sep. 8, 1992, and assigned to the assignee of the present application introduced a bed foundation that includes a plurality of sections designed to be easily and quickly joined together to make a rectangular support for a mattress. The bed foundation disclosed in the '706 patent can be disassembled for shipping and storage.
The bed foundation disclosed in the '706 patent has proven suitable for a wide variety of uses. The '706 bed foundation, however, includes two center sections and two opposed end sections that present hinge or crease lines transverse to the longitudinal axis of the foundation. The hinge or crease lines detract from the bed foundation's rigidity along the longitudinal axis of the foundation. Moreover, the various components of the foundation could not be easily disassembled for repair or replacement, and a failure of one of the components generally required return of the entire foundation to the factory for repair. A bed foundation that could be disassembled into a compact unit for storage and shipping, that did not require hinge or crease lines transverse to the longitudinal axis of the foundation, but could be disassembled for compact storage and shipping, and which would easily facilitate the repair or replacement of component parts would provide decided advantages over known bed foundations.